Entertainment

Twestival Local: Live Now!

Twestival Local, the international event for bringing Twitterers together to support community charities, officially kicked off their weekend-long campaign for social good yesterday. As the world uses Twitter to come together in hyperlocal forces, you're probably wondering what Twestival is and how you can get in on the action.

Since cities around the world are already starting to celebrate social good, we thought it fit to remind you that you have a myriad of options when it comes to sharing the Twestival experience.

Whether you attend an event, participate in the Twestival Project, watch what happens online, or share your own experiences in video form, make time to support the international initiative and use social media for social good.

What is Twestival Local?

Twestival is a Twitter charity festival; a cross between a tweetup and a fundraiser. The global initiative was born on January 8, 2009 with a single tweet asking cities to join together and hold their own Twestivals on February 12th to support charity: water.

The response was overwhelming positive, with more than 200 cities and 1,000 volunteers all working together to bring in over $250,000 for the cause.

This time around, Twestival is localized. It still has the same international appeal, but each city is raising money for their own community causes. Given the success of Twestival Global, and the fact that cities have had more time to mobilize, we have a feeling that Twestival Local will rock the world of social giving once again.

Mashable is a global media partner of Twestival and deeply committed to both the local and global efforts for using social media to create awareness and raise funds for important causes. Los Angeles Twestival goers can connect with Mashable's Ben Parr and Barb Dywald on Sunday, and those of you in San Diego can find me at the Saturday night event. Ben will also be at tonight's San Francisco Twestival.

Use the map on Twestival's website to find events near you. Each participating city has its own events page with detailed information on the Twestival, how to follow the city on Twitter, volunteer, donate, and watch what happens.

Track Twestival Online

If you can't make it out to any of the events, the next best thing is keep up with what's happening on the web. With a name like Twestival, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that most cities have an online component associated with their offline events, with some even streaming their events to the web.

How you consume tweets, photos, and streams for specific events depends on the city itself and your personal preferences, but you have a few no fail methods to keep up with all the action.

Follow Twestival: The global Twitter account is keeping tabs on events as they're happening. As we fast approach the weekend, activity is starting to heat up. Follow this Twitter account for updates on news, fundraising achievements, lifestreams for cities, and a collection of other information related to the international celebration.

Watch it Live: ScribbleLive has partnered with Twestival to provide a real-time feed to keep up pace with all tweets, displaying photos inline, using the #twestival hashtag. You can watch the main stream and map view (it's like Twittervision just for Twestival) for a complete real-time view of what the world is tweeting and sharing about Twestival, or you can use the city tag cloud to narrow your view.

Share Your Twestival Experience

The folks at Animoto have teamed with Twestival to give attendees and organizers a way to capture and share their event memories in splashy video form. From now until September 23rd, you can use the promo code "twestival" to redeem a full-length video credit for free.

Animoto, which now powers video clip remixing, gives you an instant and easy way to mash together your memories in photo and video form, add in some music, and create a video that you can share on the web. Should you make your own video mix of your Twestival experience, make sure to share it with us in the comments. Who knows, maybe we'll post it!

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.